US Warships now use Intel and Linux

The US Navy are about to unveil their new warship the USS Zumwalt. The Navy warship will be a departure away from the big and bulky traditional warship/aircraft carriers, and instead be considerably more lightweight and points towards a new kind of flexible military machine. This also interestingly enough for tech observers all over the world will be powered by a high-tech version of Linux.

The USS Zumwalt is a warship built around the principles of stealth and unimaginable firepower, with an easy to maintain and operate electronics system. Moreover, the server will be running IBM blades with Red Hat Linux that is encased deep within the bowels of the ship. The incredibly large Electronic Modular Enclosures is hardy and will not break down or be disrupted from vibrations, shocks, or an electromagnetic pulses and also comes with a built-in water cooling system. This is basically the most protected and potentially destructive data centre in the world.

Furthermore, the USS Zumwalt with Linux will also be coupled with a Common Display System. The CDS is a collection of a 3-screen server workstation that will run Intel Xeon processors alongside a multitude of LynxOS-based virtual machines. This allows for the Navy to be running multiple different operations with different levels of access to the system within one room on the ship. Thus, the user will be able to operate different tasks on the ship without the need to move to a different part of the ship.

This will cost the Navy a mere $3.45 billion! So what do you feel about this new kind of military technology? Will the USS Zumwalt be the standard bearer for a new type of military technology? What do you think about the Navy using Linux and Intel Xeon?